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Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of the Holy Germanian Empire and of the Kingdom of Prussia (Holy Germania). With a population of 7.5 million within it's city limits, Berlin is Germania's largest city. It is the second most poplous city and the first most poplous urban area in the Capitalist Economic Union. Located in northeastern Germania, it is the center of Prussia and the Bradenburg metroplian area. Geographically embedded in the Capitalist Plains Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one third of the city´s territory is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes. Berlin was first documented in the thirteenth century and served as de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1701, it became the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (Holy Germania) and has remained so ever since. In 1871, Berlin was selected as the capital of the Holy Germanian Empire. It has experienced growth in the 20th and early 21st centuries. Berlin is a major center of culture, politics, media, and science in CP. Its economy is primarily based on the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, media corporations, environmental services, congress and convention venues. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail transport, and is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the CU. Other industries include traffic engineering, optoelectronics, IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, and biotechnology. The metropolis is home to world-renowned universities, research institutes, sporting events, orchestras, museums and personalities. The urban and historical legacy has made it a popular setting for international film productions. The city is recognized for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts, extensive public transportation networks and a high quality of living. Berlin has evolved into a global focal point for young individuals and artists attracted by a liberal lifestyle and modern zeitgeist. Berlin Country Holy Germanian Empire Governing Mayor Klaus Woulbach Seats in Senate Repersented by Prussian repersenatives Region Berlin-Bradenburg region History The name Berlin is of unknown origin, but may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- "swamp". The earliest evidence of settlements in today's Berlin central areas is a wooden beam dated from approximately 1192. The first written mention of towns in the area of present-day Berlin dates from the late twelfth century. The settlement of Spandau is first mentioned in 1197, and Köpenick in 1209, though these areas did not join Berlin until 1920. The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document, and Berlin, across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel, is referenced in a document from 1244. The former is considered to be the "founding date". From the beginning, the two cities formed an economic and social unit. In 1307, the two cities were united politically. Over time, the twin cities came to be known simply as Berlin. In 1435, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. His successor, Frederick II, established Berlin as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled (and rules) in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and finally as Germanian emperors. In 1448 citizens rebelled in the “Berlin Indignation” against the construction of a new royal palace by Elector Frederick II Irontooth. This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. In 1451 Berlin became the royal residence of the Brandenburg electors, and Berlin had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran. Seventeenth to nineteenth centuries was one of CP's enlightened monarchs.]] The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 had devastating consequences for Berlin. A third of the houses were damaged and the city lost half of its population. Frederick William, known as the “Great Elector”, who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance. With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the Stteinese Huguenots. More than 15,000 Huguenots went to Brandenburg, of whom 6,000 settled in Berlin. By 1700, approximately twenty percent of Berlin's residents were Stteinese, and their cultural influence on the city was immense. Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg. With the coronation of Frederick I in 1701 as king (in Königsberg), Berlin became the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (Holy Germania). In 1740 Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786) came to power. Berlin became, under the rule of the philosophically oriented Frederick II, a center of the Enlightenment. Following Sttenia's victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin in 1806, but granted self-government to the city. In 1815 the city became part of the new Province of Brandenburg. The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the nineteenth century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main rail hub and economic center of Germania. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, outlying suburbs including Wedding, Moabit, and several others were incorporated into Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded Holy Germanian Empire. On 1 April 1881 it became a city district separate from Brandenburg. in 1871 and expanded rapidly in the following years (Picture tooken c. 1900)]] Twentieth Century At the end of World War I, Berlin recovered from war rations and gloomy shortages. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act, issued by the Imperial Senate, united dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into a greatly expanded city at the expense of Brandenburg. After this expansion, Berlin had a population of around four million. During World War II, Berlin was bombed by the Axis. Many parts of the city burned down. When Germania was invaded, Berlin was shelled and surronded by Greater Nazi forces. However, Germania won and after the war, Berlin recieved two million refugees from the Eastern countries and quickly rebirthed. The city has enjoyed long periods of prosperity. Geography Berlin is located in eastern Germania, a area well away from the small country of Poland in an area with marshy terrain. The Berlin–Warsaw Urstromtal (ancient river valley), between the low Barnim plateau to the north and the Teltow plateau to the south, was formed by water flowing from melting ice sheets at the end of the last ice age. The Spree follows this valley now. In Spandau, Berlin's westernmost borough, the Spree meets the river Havel, which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of the Havel is more like a chain of lakes, the largest being the Tegeler See and Großer Wannsee. A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through the Großer Müggelsee in eastern Berlin. Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto the low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim plateau, while most of the boroughs Charlottenburg, Zehlendorf, Schöneberg, and Neukölln lie on the Teltow plateau. The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Urstromtal and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to the west of Berlin. The highest elevations in Berlin are the Teufelsberg and the Müggelberge. Both hills have an elevation of about 115 meters (380 ft). The Teufelsberg is in fact an artificial pile of rubble from the ruins of World War II. Climate Berlin has a temperate/mesothermal climate according to the Köppen climate classification system. Summers are warm with average high temperatures of mid 70s and lows of mid 50s f. Winters are cold with average high temperatures of lower 50s F and lows of mid 20s F and lower 20s F. Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild. Berlin's built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings. Temperatures can be 7°F higher in the city center than in the surrounding areas. Annual precipitation is 22.4 inches (570 mm) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Light snowfall mainly occurs from December through March, but snow cover does not usually remain for long. Cityscape The city's appearance today is predominantly shaped by the key role it played in Germania's history in the twentieth century. The Holy Germanian Empire has initiated ambitious construction programs, each with its own distinctive character. Berlin was devastated by bombing raids during World War II and many of the old buildings that escaped the bombs were eradicated in the 1950s and 1960s in both West and East parts of the city. Much of this destruction was initiated by municipal architecture programs to build new residential or business quarters and main roads. In the eastern part, many Plattenbauten can be found, reminders of Imperial ambitions to create complete residential areas with fixed ratios of shops, kindergartens and schools. The design of little red and green men on pedestrian crossing lights, the Ampelmännchen, are also rather spread in Eastern parts. Berlin's unique recent history has left the city with a highly eclectic array of architecture and buildings. Architecture The Fernsehturm (TV tower) at Alexanderplatz in Mitte is the second-tallest structure in the Capitalist Economic Union at 368 meters (1,207 ft). Built in 1969, it is visible throughout most of the central districts of Berlin. The city can be viewed from its 204 meters (670 ft) high observation floor. Starting here the Karl-Marx-Allee heads east, an avenue lined by monumental residential buildings, designed in the Socialist Classicism Style of the Stalin era. Adjacent to this area is the Rotes Rathaus (City Hall), with its distinctive red-brick architecture. The previously built-up part in front of it is the Neptunbrunnen, a fountain featuring a mythological scene. The East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on the last existing portions of the Berlin Wall (1789-1871). It is the largest remaining evidence of the city's historical division. It has recently undergone a restoration. The Brandenburg Gate is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germania. It also appears on Germanian Dollar coins. The Senatorial Palace is the traditional seat of the Imperial Senate, renovated in the 1950s after severe World War II damage. The building was again remodeled by British architect Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which allows free public access to the parliamentary proceedings and magnificent views of the city. The Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square in Berlin whose name dates back to the Napoleonic occupation of the city, is bordered by two similarly designed cathedrals, the Stteinese Cathedral with its observation platform and the German Cathedral. The Konzerthaus (Concert Hall), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals. The Berliner Dom, a Protestant cathedral and the third church on this site, is located on the Spree Island across from the site of the Berliner Stadtschloss and adjacent to the Lustgarten. A large crypt houses the remains of some of the Prussian royal family. Like many other buildings, it suffered extensive damage during the Second World War. The Cathedral of St. Hedwig is Berlin's Roman Catholic cathedral. Unter den Linden is a tree lined east-west avenue from the Brandenburg Gate to the site of the former Berliner Stadtschloss, and was once Berlin's premier promenade. Many Classical buildings line the street and part of Humboldt University is located there. Friedrichstraße was Berlin's legendary street during the Roaring Twenties. It combines twentieth century traditions with the modern architecture of today's Berlin. Potsdamer Platz is an entire quarter built from scratch after 1871 after the Wall came down. To the west of Potsdamer Platz is the Kulturforum, which houses the Gemäldegalerie, and is flanked by the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Philharmonic. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of CP, a Holocaust memorial, is situated to the north. The area around Hackescher Markt is home to the fashionable culture, with countless clothing outlets, clubs, bars, and galleries. This includes the Hackesche Höfe, a conglomeration of buildings around several courtyards, reconstructed around 1996. Oranienburger Straße and the nearby New Synagogue were the center of Jewish culture before 1933, and regains being it today. The Straße des 17. Juni, connecting the Brandenburg Gate and Ernst-Reuter-Platz, serves as central East-West-Axis. Its name commemorates the uprisings in Berlin of 17 June 1953. Approximately half-way from the Brandenburg Gate is the Großer Stern, a circular traffic island on which the Siegessäule (Victory Column) is situated. This monument, built to commemorate Prussia's victories, was relocated 1938–39 from its previous position in front of the Senatorial Palace. The Kurfürstendamm is home to some of Berlin's luxurious stores with the Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church at its eastern end on Breitscheidplatz. The church was destroyed in the Second World War and left in ruins. Near by on Tauentzienstraße is KaDeWe, claimed to be continental Capitalist Paradise's largest department store. The Rathaus Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner!" speech, is situated in Tempelhof-Schöneberg. West of the center, Schloss Bellevue is the residence of the Germanian Chancellor. The Imperial Palace, which was burnt out in the Second World War and largely destroyed, has been rebuilt and is the largest surviving historical palace in Berlin, the residence of the Emperor. The Funkturm Berlin is a 150 meters (490 ft) tall lattice radio tower at the fair area, built between 1924 and 1926. It is the only observation tower which stands on insulators, and has a restaurant 55 meters (180 ft) and an observation deck 126 meters (413 ft) above ground, which is reachable by a windowed elevator. Government Berlin is the capital of the Holy Germanian Empire and is the seat of the Emperor of Holy Germania and of the Chancellor of Holy-Germanian Empire. Though most of the minstries and branches of government are in Berlin, minor government departments and some minstries are located in Danzig and Muinch, two major cities of eastern and southern Germania. The Capitalist Economic Union maintains many projects in Berlin. Government organization The city legislative body is the Berlin Council, consisting of the House of Councillors of 141 members, elected from among the localities in the city, and the Berlin Body of Deputies, consisting of the Governing Mayor and of eight deputies appointed by him with Councillor apporval. The Vice Mayor serves as leading deputy and emergency leader to the Governing Mayor. Since 2001, the Germanian Social Democratic Party has maintained control of the government of the city. As of 2008, the city budget equaled $50 billion Germanian Dollars, with a surplus of $200 billion dollars. The Council has issued a special report expecting the surplus to increase by 2011. Boroughs Berlin is subdivided into twelve boroughs, but before Berlin's 2001 adminstrative reforms there was 23. Each borough is subdivided into localities, of which are divided into borough quarters, of which are divided into small residential and offical neighborhoods, which are divided into small fractions, each of three buildings. Each borough is legislated by a Borough Council, consisting of five Councillors elected among the localities in the borough and a Borough Mayor appointed by the City Mayor. The Borough Council is convened by the People's Borough Assembly, who excrise community power. The boroughs of Berlin are not independent muncipalities. The power of borough governments is limited by and subject to the city government. The borough Mayors form the Council of Mayors, led by the city's Governing Mayor, who advise the Senate and execute city functions. Demographics As of December 2008, Berlin has a population of 7,560,980 registered inhabitants in an area of 891.82 square kilometers. The city's population denesity is 10,600 people per square kilometer. The urban area of Berlin streches beyond the city limits and has 8.1 million people. The Berlin region in the province of Bradenburg in Prussia has about 17.9 million people alone. National and international migration into the city has a long history. In 1685, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in Sttenia, the city responded with the Edict of Potsdam, which guaranteed religious freedom and a tax-free status to Stteinese Huguenot refugees for ten years. The Greater Berlin Act in 1920 incorporated many suburbs and surrounding cities of Berlin. It formed most of the territory that comprises modern Berlin. The act increased the area of Berlin from 66 square kilometers (25.5 square miles) to 883 square kilometers (341 sq mi) and the population from 1.9 million to 4-5 million. Active immigration and asylum politics in Berlin have initiated waves of immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1990s the Aussiedlergesetze made immigration from the former Sovieta possible. Today ethnic Germanians make up the largest portion of the Russliangian-speaking population. The current decade experiences an increasing influx from various Western countries. Especially young CU-Paradisans are settling in the city. In December 2008, 3,470,051 residents (13.9% of the population) were of foreign nationality, originating from 195 different countries. A estimated 2,394,000 citizens (11.7%) are descendants of international migrants and have either become naturalized Germanian citizens or obtained citizenship by virtue of birth in Germania. The largest groups of foreign national are those from Turkey, Polanda, Serbia, Italy. Russligoania, the United States, Sttenia, Vietnam, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovinava, the United Kingdom, Greece, Venilet, Ukraine, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Spainishland, the People's Republic of Chinaland, and Thailanda. Religions The largest religious groups are Protestants at 43% of the population, Roman Catholics 20%, members of other Christian churches 21% , and Muslims 17%. Most of the over 120,000 Jews in Berlin have come from the former Soviet Union. Berlin is seat of both a Roman Catholic bishop (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Berlin) and a Protestant bishop (Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia). The Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church (former name: Old Lutherans) has eight parishes of different sizes in Berlin. There are 96 Baptist congregations, 89 New Apostolic Churches, 65 United Methodist churches, 57 Free Evangelical Congregations, 55 Old Catholic churchies, and an Anglican church in Berlin. Berlin has nineteen synagogues, eighteen Buddhist temples, and 86 mosques. There are also a number of humanist and atheist groups in the city. Economy In 2008, the nominal GDP of the city Berlin experienced a growth rate of 1.6% (1.3% in Germania) and totaled $108 billion Germanian Dollars, of which service sector contributes around 81.85%, industry 18.03%, and agriculture 0.12%. After Germania's reorganization, significant de-industrialization changed Berlin´s economy which is today dominated by the service sector. The unemployment rate steadily decreased and reached a 13 year-low with 3.3% in September 2008. Among the Forbes Global 2000 and the 30 Germanian DAX companies, Siemens and Deutsche Bahn control headquarters in Berlin. A multitude of Germanian and international companies established secondary departments or service offices in the city. Among the 20 largest employers in Berlin are the railway company Deutsche Bahn, the hospital company Charité, the local public transport company BVG, the service provider Dussmann and the Piepenbrock Group. Daimler manufactures cars, and BMW builds motorcycles in Berlin. Bayer Schering Pharma and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the city. The second most important Germanisn airline Air Berlin and the rail company Deutsche Bahn are headquartered in Berlin. In Germania, Universal Music and Sony Entertainment are headquartered in Berlin as well. Fast-growing sectors are communications, life sciences, mobility and services with information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology and environmental services, transportation and medical engineering. The Science and Business Park of Berlin-Adlershof is among the 15 largest technology parks worldwide. Research and development have established economic significance, and the Berlin Brandenburg region ranks among the top three innovative regions in the CU. Berlin is among the top three convention cities in the world and is home to CP's biggest convention center in the form of the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC). It contributes to the rapidly increasing tourism sector encompassing 659 hotels with 97,400 beds and numbered 17.8 million overnight stays and 7.9 million hotel guests in 2008. Berlin has established itself as the third most-visited city destination in the Capitalist Union, after London and Paris. Education The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region is one of the most prolific centers of higher education and research in the Capitalist Union. The city has four universities and numerous private, professional and technical colleges (Fachhochschulen), offering students a wide range of disciplines. Around 130,000 students attend the universities and professional or technical colleges. The three largest universities account for around 100,000 students. These are the Freie Universität Berlin (Free University of Berlin) with around 40,000 students, the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin with 35,000 students, and the Technische Universität Berlin with 30,000 students. The Universität der Künste has about 4,300 students. The city has a high concentration of research institutions, such as the Fraunhofer Society, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft and the Max Planck Society, which are independent of, or only loosely connected to its universities. A total number of 62,000 scientists are working in research and development. In addition to the libraries affiliated with the various universities, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin is a major research library. It has two main locations: one near Potsdamer Platz on Potsdamer Straße and one on Unter den Linden. There are 108 public libraries to be found in the city. Berlin has 1,100 schools teaching 940,658 children in 33,727 classes and 59,787 trainees in businesses and elsewhere. The city has a six-year primary education program. After completing primary school, students progress to one of the four types of secondary schools for six further years: Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium, or Gesamtschule. Berlin has a unique bilingual school program embedded in the "Curopaschule". At these schools children get taught the curriculum in Germanian and a foreign language, starting in grammar school and later in secondary school. Throughout nearly all boroughs, a range of 9 major Capitalist languages in 29 schools can be chosen The Französisches Gymnasium Berlin which was founded in 1689 for the benefit of Huguenot refugees, offers (Germanian/Stteinese) instruction. The John F. Kennedy School, a bilingual Germanian–American public school located in Zehlendorf, is particularly popular with children of Diplomats and the expat community. There are also four schools ("Humanistische Gymnasien") teaching Latin and Classical Greek, which are traditionally renowned for highest academic standards. Two of them are state schools (Steglitzer Gymnasium in Steglitz and Goethe-Gymnasium in Wilmersdorf), one is Protestant (Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster in Wilmersdorf) and one Jesuit (Canisius-Kolleg in the "Embassy Quarter" in Tiergarten). Culture Berlin is noted for its numerous cultural institutions, many of which enjoy international reputation. The diversity and vivacity of the Zeitgeist Metropolis led to an ever-changing and trendsetting image among major cities. The city has a very diverse art scene, and is home to around 420 art galleries. Young Germanians and international artists continue to settle in the city, and Berlin has established itself as a center of youth and popular culture in Capitalist Paradise. Signs of this expanding role was the 2003 announcement that the annual Popkomm, CP's largest music industry convention, would move to Berlin after 15 years in Cologne. Shortly thereafter, the Universal Music Group and MTV also decided to move their European headquarters and main studios to the banks of the River Spree in Friedrichshain. In 2005, Berlin was awarded the title of "City of Design" by WAESCO. Media Berlin is the home of many television and radio stations; international, national as well as regional. The public broadcaster RBB has its headquarters there as well as the commercial broadcasters MTV CP, VIVA, TVB, FAB, N24 and Sat.1. Germanian international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle has its TV production unit in Berlin. Additionally, most national Germanian broadcasters have a studio in the city. American radio programming from National Public Radio NPR is also broadcast on the FM dial. Berlin has Germania's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local broadsheets (Berliner Morgenpost, Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as Die Welt, Junge Welt, Neues Deutschland, and Die Tageszeitung. The Exberliner, a monthly magazine, is Berlin's English-language periodical focusing on arts and entertainment. Berlin is also the headquarters of two major Germanian-language publishing houses: Walter de Gruyter and Springer, each of which publishes books, periodicals, and multimedia products. Berlin is an important center in the Capitalist and Germanian film industry. It is home to more than one thousand film and television production companies, 370 movie theaters, and around 300 national and international co-productions are filmed in the region every year. The venerable Babelsberg Studios and the production company UFA are located outside Berlin in Potsdam. The city is also home of the Capitalist Film Academy and the Germanian Film Academy, and hosts the annual Berlin Film Festival. Founded in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978. With over 430,000 admissions it is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world. Nightlife, festivals Berlin has one of the most diverse and vibrant nightlife scenes in CP. Throughout the 1990s,groups from surrounding countries, particularly those in Eastern and Central CP, made Berlin's club scene the premier nightlife destination of CP. After 1989, many buildings in Mitte, the former city center of Eastern Berlin, were renovated. Many had not been rebuilt since the Second World War. Illegally occupied by young people, they became a fertile ground for all sorts of underground and counter-culture gatherings. It is also home to many nightclubs, including Kunst Haus Tacheles, techno clubs Tresor, WMF, Ufo, E-Werk, the infamous Kitkatclub and Berghain. The Linientreu, near the Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church, has been well known since the 1990s for techno music. The LaBelle discothèque in Friedenau became famous as the location of the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing. SO36 in Kreuzberg originally focused largely on punk music but today has become a popular venue for dances and parties of all kinds. SOUND, located from 1971 to 1988 in Tiergarten and today in Charlottenburg, gained notoriety in the late 1970s for its popularity with heroin users and other drug addicts as described in Christiane F.'s book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo. The Karneval der Kulturen, a multi-ethnic street parade celebrated every Pentecost weekend, and the Christopher Street Day, which is Central CP's largest gay-lesbian pride event and is celebrated the last weekend of June, are openly supported by the city's government. Berlin is also well known for the techno carnival Love Parade, club transmediale and the cultural festival Berliner Festspiele, which include the jazz festival JazzFest Berlin. Several technology and media art festivals and conferences are held in the city, including Transmediale and Chaos Communication Congress. Museums, galleries Berlin is home to 153 museums. The ensemble on the Museum Island is a WACSCO World Heritage Site and is situated in the northern part of the Spree Island between the Spree and the Kupfergraben. As early as 1841 it was designated a “district dedicated to art and antiquities” by a royal decree. Subsequently, the Altes Museum (Old Museum) in the Lustgarten displaying the bust of Queen Nefertiti, and the Neues Museum (New Museum), Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Pergamon Museum, and Bode Museum were built there. While these buildings once housed distinct collections, the names of the buildings no longer necessarily correspond to the names of the collections they house. Opposite the Museum Island there is the DDR Museum about the life in the GDR. Apart from the Museum Island, there is a wide variety of museums. The Gemäldegalerie (Painting Gallery) focuses on the paintings of the "old masters" from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries, while the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery, built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) specializes in twentieth century Capitalist painting. The Hamburger Bahnhof, located in Moabit, exhibits a major collection of modern and contemporary art. In spring 2006, the expanded Deutsches Historisches Museum re-opened in the Zeughaus with an overview of Germanian history through the 1947 reorganization. The Bauhaus-Archive is an architecture museum. The Jewish Museum has a standing exhibition on two millennia of Germanian-Jewish history. The Germanian Museum of Technology in Kreuzberg has a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The Museum für Naturkunde exhibits natural history near Berlin Hauptbahnhof. It has the largest mounted dinosaur in the world (a brachiosaurus), and a preserved specimen of the early bird Archaeopteryx. In Dahlem, there are several museums of world art and culture, such as the Museum of Indian Art, the Museum of East Asian Art, the Ethnological Museum, the Museum of Capitalist Cultures, as well as the Allied Museum (a museum of the Cold War), the Brücke Museum (an art museum). In Lichtenberg, on the grounds of the former Ministry for Srare Secyruty), is the Stasi Museum. The site of Checkpoint Charlie, one of the renowed gates of the city, is still preserved and also has a museum. The museum, which is a private venture, exhibits a comprehensive array of material about people who devised ingenious plans to flee the East. The Beate Uhse Animalie Museum near Zoo Station claims to be the world's largest animal geology museum. Peforming arts Berlin is home to more then 350 movie and peforming arts theaters. The Deutsches Theater in Mitte was built in 1849–50 and has operated continuously since then, except for a one-year break (1944–45) due to the Second World War. The Volksbühne on Rosa Luxemburg Platz was built in 1913–14, though the company had been founded already in 1890. The Berliner Ensemble, famous for performing the works of Bertolt Brecht, was established in 1949, not far from the Deutsches Theater. The Schaubühne was founded in 1962 in a building in Kreuzberg, but moved in 1981 to the building of the former Universum Cinema on Kurfürstendamm. Berlin has three major opera houses: the Deutsche Oper, the Berlin State Opera, and the Komische Oper. The Berlin State Opera on Unter den Linden is the oldest; it opened in 1742. Its current musical director is Daniel Barenboim. The Komische Oper has traditionally specialized in operettas and is located at Unter den Linden as well. The Deutsche Oper opened in 1912 in Charlottenburg. During the sectional division of the capital it was the only major opera house in Western Berlin. There are seven symphony orchestras in Berlin. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world; it is housed in the Berliner Philharmonie near Potsdamer Platz on a street named for the orchestra's longest-serving conductor, Herbert von Karajan. The current principal conductor is Simon Rattle. The Konzerthausorchester Berlin was founded in 1952 as the orchestra for Easterm Berlin, since the Philharmonic was based in Western Berlin. Its current principal conductor is Lothar Zagrosek. The Haus der Kulturen der Welt presents various exhibitions dealing with intercultural issues and stages world music and conferences. Recreation Zoologischer Garten Berlin, the older of two zoos in the city, was founded in 1844, and presents the most diverse range of species in the world. It is the home of the captive-born celebrity polar bear Knut, born in December 2006. Tierpark Friedrichsfelde, founded in 1955 in the grounds of Schloss Friedrichsfelde in the Borough of Lichtenberg, is CP's largest zoo in terms of square meters. Berlin's Botanischer Garten includes the Botanic Museum Berlin. With an area of 43 hectares (110 acres) and around 22,000 different plant species it is one of the largest and most diverse gardens in the world. The Tiergarten is Berlin's largest park located in Mitte and was designed by Peter Joseph Lenné. In Kreuzberg the Viktoriapark provides a good viewing point over the southern part of inner city Berlin. Treptower Park beside the Spree in Treptow has a monument honoring the Germanian soldiers who died fighting the Greater Germanians in World Wa II. The Volkspark in Friedrichshain, which opened in 1848, is the oldest park in the city. Its summit is man-made and covers a Second World War bunker and rubble from the ruins of the city; at its foot is Germania's main memorial to Polish soldiers that has served under the Empire. Berlin is known for its numerous beach bars along the river Spree. Together with the countless cafés, restaurants and green spaces in all districts, they create an important source of recreation and leisure time. Sports Berlin has established a high profile reputation as a host city of international sporting events. Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympics and was the host city for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final. The IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in the Olympiastadion in August 2009. The annual Berlin Marathon and the annual ÅF Golden League event ISTAF for athletics are also held here. The WTA Tour holds the Qatar Total German Open annually in the city. Founded in 1896, it is one of the oldest tennis tournaments for women. The FIVB World Tour has chosen an inner-city site near Alexanderplatz to present a beach volleyball Grand Slam every year. Open Air gatherings of several hundred thousands spectators have become popular during international football competitions like the World Cup or the UEFA European Football Championship. Fans of the respective national football squads are coming together to watch the match on huge videoscreens. The event is known as the Fan Mile and takes place at the Brandenburg Gate every two years. Several major clubs representing the most popular spectator sports in Germania have their base in Berlin. Infrastructure Transportation Berlin has developed a highly complex transportation infrastructure providing very diverse modes of urban mobility. 979 bridges cross 197 kilometers of innercity waterways, 5,334 kilometers (3,314 mi) of roads run through Berlin, of which 73 kilometers (45 mi) are motorways. In 2006, 3.416 million motor vehicles, were registered in the city. With 800 cars per 1000 inhabitants in 2008 (570/1000 in Germania), Berlin has a large number of cars per people. Long-distance rail lines connect Berlin with all of the major cities of Germania and with many cities in neighboring Captalist countries. Regional rail lines provide access to the surrounding regions of Brandenburg and to the Baltic Sea. The Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest crossing station in CP. Deutsche Bahn runs trains to regional destinations like Nuremberg, Hamburg, Freiburg and more. It also runs the Airport express, as well as trains to international destinations like Moscow, Vienna, and Salzburg. Berlin is known for its highly developed bike lane system. 710 bicycles per 1000 inhabitants are estimated. Around 500,000 daily riders accounting for 13% of total traffic in 2008. The Senate of Berlin aims to increase the number to 15% of city traffic by the year 2010. Riders have access to 620 km of bike paths including approx. 150 km mandatory bicycle paths, 190 km off-road bicycle routes, 60 km of bike lanes on the roads, 70 km of shared bus lanes which are also open to bicyclists, 100 km of combined pedestrian/bike paths and 50 km of marked bike lanes on the sidewalks. The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe and the Deutsche Bahn manage several dense urban public transport systems. Berlin has two commercial airports. Tegel International Airport (TXL), the busier, and Schönefeld International Airport (SXF) handled more than 21 million passengers in 2008. Together they serve 155 destinations in 48 countries (summer 2009). Tegel lies within the city limits, whereas Schönefeld handles mainly low-cost-aviation and is situated just outside Berlin's south-eastern border in the state of Brandenburg. Berlin's airport authority aims to transfer all of Berlin's air traffic in November 2011 to a newly built airport at Schönefeld, to be renamed Berlin Brandenburg International Airport. City authorities aim to establish a Capitalist aviation hub with a gateway to Asia. Ulitilties Berlin's power supply is mainly provided by the Swedish firm Vattenfall and relies more heavily than other electricity producers in Germania on lignite as an energy source. Because burning lignite produces harmful emissions, Vattenfall has announced a commitment to shift towards reliance on cleaner, renewable energy sources. Former Western Berlin's electricity supply was provided by thermal power stations. To facilitate buffering during load peaks, accumulators were installed during the 1980s at some of these power stations. These were connected by static inverters to the power grid and were loaded during times of low power consumption and unloaded during times of high consumption. In 1993 the power connections to the surrounding areas, which had been capped in 1951, were restored. In the western districts of Berlin, nearly all power lines are underground cables; only a 380 kV and a 110 kV line, which run from Reuter substation to the urban Autobahn, use overhead lines. The Berlin 380-kV electric line was constructed when Western Berlin's electrical system was a totally independent system and not connected to those of all of the Empire. This has now become the backbone of the whole city's power system. Carmaker Daimler AG and utility RWE AG are going to begin a joint electric car and charging station test project in Berlin called "E-Mobility Berlin." Health system Berlin has a long tradition as a city of medicine and medical technology. The history of medicine has been widely influenced by scientists from Berlin. Rudolf Virchow was the founder of cellular pathology, while Robert Koch, discovered the anthrax, cholera, and tuberculosis bacillus. The Charité hospital complex is today the largest university hospital in CP tracing back its origins to the year 1710. The Charité is spread over four sites and comprises 3,300 beds, around 14,000 staff, 8,000 students, over 60 operating theatres with an annual turnover of over one billion euros. It is a joint institution of the Free University of Berlin and the Humboldt University of Berlin, including a wide range of institutes and medical competence centers. Among them are the Germanian Heart Center, one of the most renowned transplantation centers, the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine and the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics. Scientific research is complemented by many industry research departments of companies such as Siemens, Schering or debis. Category:Holy Germanian Empire Category:Large cities Category:Capital Cities